should be
comparatively insignificant in magnitude.

As to the coexistence of the two processes, we have, perhaps, an example
in the solar system itself. Darwin's demonstration of the possible birth
of the moon from the earth, through fission and tidal friction, does not
apply to the satellites attending the other planets. The moon is
relatively a large body, comparable in that respect with the earth,
while the satellites of Jupiter and Saturn, for instance, are relatively
small. But in the case of Saturn there is visible evidence that the ring
process of satellite formation has prevailed. The existing rings have
not broken up, but their very existence is a testimony of the origin of
the satellites exterior to them from other rings which did break up.
Thus we need not go as far away as the stars in order to find instances
illustrating both the methods of nebular evolution that we have been
dealing with.

The conclusion, then, seems to be that we are not justified in assuming
that the solar system is unique simply because it differs widely from
the double and multiple star systems; and that we should rather regard
it as probable that the vast multitude of stars which do not appear,
when viewed with the telescope, or studied by spectroscopic methods, to
have any attendants comparable with themselves in magnitude, have
originated in a manner resembling that of the sun's origin, and may be
the centers of true planetary systems like ours. The argument, I think,
goes further than to show the mere possibility of the existence of such
planetary systems surrounding the single stars. If those stars did not
originate in a manner quite unlike the origin of the sun, then the
existence of planets in their neighborhood is almost a foregone
conclusion, for the sun could hardly have passed through the process of
formation out of a rotating nebula without evolving planets during its
contraction. And so, notwithstanding the eccentricities of the double
stars, we may still cherish the belief that there are eyes to see and
minds to think out in celestial space.

INDEX

NOTE.--Double, triple, multiple, and colored stars, star clusters,
nebulae, and temporary stars will be found arranged under the heads of
their respective constellations.

ANDROMEDA, Map No. 24, 125.
Stars: alpha, 126.
gamma, 128.
, 126. 36, 128.
Temporary star: 1885, 127.
Cluster: 457, 128.
Variable: R, 128.
Nebula: 116, 126.

AQUARI